Sahana Ghosh

1 week ago | nature.com | Sahana Ghosh

A 23-million-year-old fossilized leaf found in coalfields in Assam is reshaping scientists’ understanding of how India’s biodiversity hotspots once connected. The discovery reveals that an evergreen forest corridor once stretched across the subcontinent, linking the Western Ghats in the south with the forests of the northeast1. The fossil belongs to an ancient relative of Nothopegia, a genus now found only in the southern reaches of the Western Ghats.

1 week ago | nature.com | Sahana Ghosh

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science studying microbial interactions in soil have stumbled on an ecological twist: the death of a bacteria hunter was helping drug-resistant bacteria flourish1. At the centre of it was Myxococcus xanthus, a predatory slime bacterium known for its pack-hunting prowess. In soil across the world, M. xanthus swarms its microbial prey and kills en masse.

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Sahana Ghosh

Gaganyaan astronaut-designate and airforce pilot, Shubhanshu Shukla, will juggle tardigrades, algae, and spindly human muscle cells in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as the Axiom-4 mission blasts off on 29 May 2025 from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.

1 month ago | nature.com | Sahana Ghosh

In the misty hills of Meghalaya, researchers have uncovered new populations of Elaeocarpus prunifolius1, a rare relative of the prayer bead tree. The discovery, guided by machine-learning models, offers a glimmer of hope for the species. But with few mature trees, limited legal protection, and mounting logging and harvesting pressures, its future is precarious.

2 months ago | nature.com | Sahana Ghosh

A bacterium first discovered aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has now been linked to at least 13 human infections worldwide, including in India1. Scientists are racing to map the spread of Kalamiella piersonii, a multidrug-resistant microorganism that appears to have adapted seamlessly to both spaceflight and human hosts. “It’s a novel pathogen — not alarming, but worth tracking,” said Georgios Miliotis, a microbiologist at the University of Galway in Ireland.